General terms and conditions

Banking with Atom is straightforward, so we give you information when it’s relevant to you. At this point, our contract with you consists of your secured loan application and these General T&Cs, which your broker will have confirmed are agreed and accepted by you at the point of submission of the application.

Please ensure you read them so you understand the terms of our agreement with you. If you have any questions or concerns, you should ask us or seek legal advice.

These T&Cs detail the agreement between ‘you’ (each person or entity in whose name the relationship is being opened and all of you together if there’s more than one of you) and Atom (‘we’/‘us’).

Where we refer to a ‘relevant person’, we mean any:

• owner;
• director;
• shareholder;
• trustee;
• guarantor;
• member;
• beneficiary; or
• attorney

of your business or entity or other person with significant control or an authorised signatory on the account forming part of the relationship with Atom.

Each condition of these T&Cs operates separately. If any court or competent authority decides that any of them are unlawful or unenforceable, the other conditions will remain in full force and effect.

Your business must be domiciled and operating within the UK and be either a:

• private limited company;
• public limited company;
• limited liability partnership (LLP);
• partnership; or
• sole trader.

Each relevant person needs to be at least 18 years old. They must not currently be:

• a disqualified director;
• bankrupt;
• subject to bankruptcy proceedings; or
• legally prevented from entering into any form of contract.

Please let us know if you need these T&Cs supplied in another format, or if we can help you to use our service in any other way. Call us on 0333 399 0050 or email customersupport@atombank.co.uk.

When you apply to become an Atom customer, we will collect your:

• first name;
• surname;
• date of birth;
• email address; and
• mobile phone number.

We will also collect your business:

• Name;
• address;
• email address;
• phone number; and
• unique identifier (e.g. company number or unique taxpayer reference).

Additionally, we need the same information for any relevant persons connected with your business or any person granting a personal guarantee. We will use this data to set up your customer record.

When you apply to become an Atom customer, we’ll ask you for some personal data so we’re able to verify your identity. We will also do this for any relevant persons.

The nature of this data will vary depending on the type of product you apply for but will always include information like your:

• full name;
• address; and
• date of birth,

as well as essential information about the structure and nature of your business.

To complete the identification and verification (ID&V) process, we will run an electronic search with a credit reference agency. It will leave a ‘credit footprint’ on your file, which means other providers will be able to see that we’ve run a search.

We’ll also follow any ‘Know Your Business’ and ‘Know Your Customer’ identification procedures. You, and each relevant person, must supply us with any documentation and other evidence we request so we can follow these procedures.

There are times when we may ask you or a relevant person to complete ID&V again (e.g. to keep our records up to date).

We hold your application data in a secure environment. We use security measures to protect it from unauthorised access and ensure it is accurate and is used appropriately.

Take a look at our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.

It’s important that we have your correct contact details at all times. Please let us know if you (or a relevant person) change your:

• name;
• address;
• mobile number; or
• personal or business email address.

You must also let us know if there is a material change in the nature of your business or the structure of the borrowing entity.

If you (or a relevant person) don’t tell us that your details have changed we’ll continue to use the information we hold. If this results in us misdirecting confidential information, we won’t be responsible. If we lose contact with you and have to try and find you, we may charge you for any costs incurred, so please keep us up to date.

We’ll use digital channels to communicate with you wherever possible.

During your application and the lifetime of your loan, we’ll use secure email to contact you and to send key documents. When you first apply for a product with us, we’ll ask you to validate yourself as a user of our secure email portal. For your own security, we encourage you to use the secure email portal to communicate with us, though you’ll still be able to contact us by phone.

We may ask you to send original documents in the post and send you formal notices or correspondence by post.

We won’t send you marketing communications unless you specifically ask us to.

You can apply to open an account via one of our panel intermediaries. The intermediary will access the relevant application forms, complete them and submit them on your behalf using our digital portal.

Atom business accounts can be operated as a:

• sole account (just you); or
• as multi-party accounts (you plus other people, such as partnerships).

If one of you tells us that you’re in dispute, we’ll need all of you to agree to any changes made in relation to the account until the dispute is resolved. For your protection we’ll need all of you to confirm that the dispute is resolved before we can lift any account restrictions.

If an account holder wants to be removed from a multi-party account, we’ll need all of the account holders to confirm this before we make our assessment.

If you need someone else to operate your account, we may be able to register a Power of Attorney (POA) for you as an individual.

We cannot accept a POA for an entity such as a company or an LLP. If, for any reason, you need to change directors of the company or members of an LLP, you must contact us as soon as possible.

At this time, we’re only able to register a POA if you’re an existing Atom customer, i.e. if you have one or more open accounts. If you have an account with us and need to register a POA, your attorney should send us hard copies of the relevant documents to verify their identity. We’ll then send them a link to the secure email portal, so they can access information and administer your account via secure email.

If we do this, your attorney, rather than you, will receive all of the information about your account.

If you need any support to operate your account due to a temporary or permanent change in your circumstances, get in touch and we’ll do everything we can to help.

If you have any technical difficulties with opening or operating secure email or your account, our Customer Support team can help. If you need to tell us about something or ask a question, please contact us via email on customersupport@atombank.co.uk or call us on 0333 399 0050.

Our aim is to get everything right first time, all of the time, but no one’s perfect.

If you’re unhappy with any aspect of our service or want to complain, please go to https://www.atombank.co.uk/how-to-complain and we’ll guide you through our complaints procedure. We’ll do our best to resolve your concerns, but if we can’t, or if we don’t deal with your complaint within 8 weeks, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) may be able to help.

The FOS is an independent organisation, which helps to settle disputes. You can find out more on their website.

Your right to cancel any arrangement you enter into with us will be based on the type of product you have. Please read your product T&Cs for more details.

We’ll give you 30 days’ notice to consider any changes to these T&Cs, unless they’re to your advantage, when we’ll make them straight away.

In most cases you’ll be able to repay your loan within three months of the date of the notice if you’re not happy with the changes.

We’ll only make changes to these T&Cs to:

• To reflect developments in our proposition (including our products and services);
• To respond proportionately to changes in the law or decisions of the Financial Ombudsman Service;
• To meet regulatory requirements;
• To reflect new industry guidance or codes of practice which raise standards of borrower protection;
• To proportionately reflect other legitimate cost increases or reductions associated with providing the particular product or service you use;
• To ensure we are being fair to all our customers; and/or
• To respond to changes in general banking practice for the benefit of all consumers.

We can end our agreement and close your account immediately (whether sole or multi-party) if we reasonably believe you have:

• Seriously or persistently broken the terms of our agreement;
• Given us false information at any time;
• Put us in a position where we might break a law, regulation, code or other duty that applies to us if we continue to maintain your accounts;
• Committed or attempted fraud against us or anyone else;
• Used any account illegally or for criminal activity;
• Inappropriately allowed someone else to access your accounts; and/or
• Behaved in a threatening or abusive manner towards our staff.

All of our designs, logos and materials are owned by or licensed to us and protected by copyright laws, including:

• Atom;
• Atom bank; and
• Digital Mortgages by Atom bank.

These are registered trademarks of Atom bank plc, with all rights reserved

We’re not responsible if we don’t comply with any of the T&Cs as a result of:

• Abnormal or unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which would have been unavoidable despite all efforts to the contrary; and/or
• Our obligations under applicable law.

These T&Cs are governed by the laws of England and Wales and if there’s any disagreement about them, or between us about your account, we each agree that this will be dealt with by the Courts of England and Wales.